Information transmission method and apparatus and storage medium

ABSTRACT

Disclosed is an information transmission method. In the method, an RS symbol is placed at beginning of a PUCCH, UCI symbols are placed after the RS symbol in the PUCCH, and the PUCCH is transmitted. Also disclosed is an information transmission apparatus and computer readable storage medium.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of International ApplicationNo. PCT/CN2018/072583, filed Jan. 15, 2018, which claims priority toU.S. Provisional Application No. 62/454,216, filed Feb. 3, 2017. Theentire disclosures of the aforementioned applications are herebyincorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communications,and particularly an information transmission method and apparatus andstorage medium.

BACKGROUND ART

In a Fourth-Generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) communicationsystem, as shown in FIG. 1, Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) istransmitted in a full uplink subframe with fixed number of symbols(e.g., 14 symbols) at the edges of system bandwidth, and is used tocarry uplink control information (UCI) such as Ack/NACK for downlinkPhysical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) transmission and channel stateinformation (CSI) feedback from the User Equipment (UE).

When it comes to a Fifth-Generation (5G) New Radio (NR) communicationsystem, due to the introduction of higher frequency, the larger pathloss could deteriorate the cell coverage. In order to transmit uplinkcontrol information (UCI) for the cell edge UE or wherever UE has acoverage issue, a concept of PUCCH with long duration (also referred toas PUCCH with long format) is proposed. Here, the term “long duration”generally means that at least 4 symbols can be transmitted in the PUCCH.Accordingly, design of the PUCCH with long duration to achieve desiredperformances becomes an issue to be solved.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

An objective of this disclosure is to provide an informationtransmission method. The method includes that an RS symbol is placed atbeginning of a PUCCH, UCI symbols are placed after the RS symbol in thePUCCH, and the PUCCH is transmitted.

In some embodiments, the PUCCH may be transmitted in one or more slotsof a first type, wherein all symbols in each of the slots of the firsttype are uplink, which are dedicated for transmitting the PUCCH; or thePUCCH may be transmitted in one or more slots of a second type, whereinmore than one half of symbols in each of the slots of the second typeare uplink, which are dedicated for transmitting the PUCCH; or the PUCCHmay be transmitted in multiple slots comprising one or more slots of thefirst type and one or more slots of the second type. The first RS symbolmay be transmitted at the beginning of the PUCCH, in each of the slotsof the first or second type.

In some embodiments, a second RS symbol may further be placed at end ofthe PUCCH, in each of the slots of the first or second type; and/or oneor more third RS symbols are placed evenly in between the UCI symbols,in the PUCCH in each of the slots of the first or second type.

In some embodiments, one or two RS symbols may be placed immediatelyafter every n contiguous UCI symbols, in each of the slots of the firstor second type, until a last symbol in the slot is filled by an RS orUCI symbol, where n is an integer greater than or equal to 1.

In some embodiments, before transmitting the PUCCH, Space-Time BlockCoding (STBC) may be performed on at least a portion of the UCI symbolsin the PUCCH to build STBC codes.

In some embodiments, an orthogonal sequence may be generated for each ofmodulated symbols carrying UCI in the PUCCH, wherein the UCI symbolscomprise m UCI symbols in time, where m is an integer, and greater thanor equal to 2; the performing STBC on at least a portion of UCI symbolsmay include: for (2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols in time, theelements of the orthogonal sequences corresponding to the (2k−1)^(th)and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols are directly used to build a first set ofpairs of STBC codes, and conjugation transformation on the elements ofthe generated orthogonal sequences corresponding to the (2k−1)^(th) and(2k)^(th) UCI symbols is performed to build a second set of pairs ofSTBC codes; the PUCCH with the first set of pairs of STBC codes may betransmitted via a first antenna, and the PUCCH with the second set ofpairs of STBC codes may be transmitted via a second antenna, where k isa positive integer and smaller than or equal to m/2.

In some embodiments, when m is an odd number, before transmitting thePUCCH, Cyclic Delay Diversity (CDD) or Space Orthogonal-ResourceTransmit Diversity (SORTD) may be performed on a last DCI symbol in timeamong the m DCI symbols to build CDD or SORTD codes for the last DCIsymbol.

In some embodiments, before the transmitting the PUCCH, the PUCCHtransmitted in a single one of the first or second slots may be dividedinto a first portion and a second portion; the first portion of thePUCCH may be transmitted in a first frequency band; and the secondportion of the PUCCH may be transmitted in a second frequency band.

In some embodiments, the PUCCH may be divided such that the secondportion of the PUCCH begins with an RS symbol.

Another objective of this disclosure is to provide an informationtransmission apparatus. The apparatus includes a processor; and one ormore modules stored on a memory and executable by the processor, the oneor more modules include: a placement module, configured to place a firstRS symbol at beginning of a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), andplace UCI symbols after the first RS symbol in the PUCCH; and atransmitter, configured to transmit the PUCCH.

In some embodiments, the transmitter may be configured to perform one ofthe following: transmit the PUCCH in one or more slots of a first type,wherein all symbols in each of the slots of the first type are uplink,which are dedicated for transmitting the PUCCH; transmit the PUCCH inone or more slots of a second type, wherein more than one half ofsymbols in each of the slots of the second type are uplink, which arededicated for transmitting the PUCCH; and transmit the PUCCH in multipleslots comprising one or more slots of the first type and one or moreslots of the second type; and the RS placement module may be configuredto place the first RS symbol at the beginning of the PUCCH, in each ofthe slots of the first or second type.

In some embodiments, the placement module may further be configured toperform at least one of the following: place a second RS symbol at endof the PUCCH, in each of the slots of the first or second type; andplace one or more third RS symbols evenly in between the UCI symbols, inthe PUCCH in each of the slots of the first or second type.

In some embodiments, the placement module may further be configured toplace one or two RS symbols immediately after every n contiguous UCIsymbols, in each of the slots of the first or second type, until a lastsymbol in the slot is filled by an RS or UCI symbol, where n is aninteger greater than or equal to 1.

In some embodiments, the one or more modules may further include atransmit diversity module, configured to perform Space-Time Block Coding(STBC) on at least a portion of the UCI symbols in the PUCCH to buildSTBC codes.

In some embodiments, the one or more modules may further include asequence generation module configured to generate an orthogonal sequencefor each of modulated symbols carrying UCI in the PUCCH, where the UCIsymbols comprise m UCI symbols in time, where m is an integer, andgreater than or equal to 2; the transmit diversity module may beconfigured to: for (2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols in time,directly use elements of the orthogonal sequences corresponding to the(2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols to build a first set of pairs ofSTBC codes, and perform conjugation transformation on the elements ofthe generated orthogonal sequences corresponding to the (2k−1)^(th) and(2k)^(th) UCI symbols to build a second set of pairs of STBC codes; thetransmitter may be configured to: transmit the PUCCH with the first setof pairs of STBC codes via a first antenna; and transmit the PUCCH withthe second set of pairs of STBC codes via a second antenna, where k is apositive integer and smaller than or equal to m/2.

In some embodiments, when m is an odd number, before the PUCCH istransmitted, the transmit diversity module may further be configured toperform Cyclic Delay Diversity (CDD) or Space Orthogonal-ResourceTransmit Diversity (SORTD) on a last DCI symbol in time among the m DCIsymbols to build CDD or SORTD codes for the last DCI symbol.

In some embodiments, the transmitter may further be configured to:divide the PUCCH transmitted in a single one of the first or secondslots into a first portion and a second portion; transmit the firstportion of the PUCCH in a first frequency band; and transmit the secondportion of the PUCCH in a second frequency band.

In some embodiments, the PUCCH may be divided such that the secondportion of the PUCCH begins with an RS symbol.

The disclosure also provides a non-transitory computer readable storageradium, having instructions stored therein, which when executed by aprocessor, causes the processor to execute the method as describedabove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical PUCCH transmission scheme in the 4G LTEsystem;

FIG. 2 illustrates several slot structure examples in the 5G NR system;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an information transmission methodaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 4A illustrates some examples of RS locations for PUCCH with longduration in one slot according to the disclosure;

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of RS locations for PUCCH with longduration in multiple uplink only slots according to the disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an information transmission methodaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic view of building STBC codes as transmitdiversity for PUCCH with long duration according to the disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of an information transmission methodaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure; and

FIG. 8A illustrates an example of intra-slot hopping for PUCCH with longduration in an uplink-only slot according to the disclosure;

FIG. 8B illustrates another example of intra-slot hopping for PUCCH withlong duration in an uplink-only slot according to the disclosure;

FIG. 8C illustrates an example of intra-slot hopping for PUCCH with longduration in an uplink-centric slot according to the disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an information transmissionapparatus according to an embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a simplified structure diagram of a UE according toan embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Various aspects are now described with reference to the drawings. In thefollowing description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofone or more aspects. It may be evident, however, that such aspects maybe practiced without these specific details.

Various aspects are described herein in connection with a user equipment(UE), which can be a wireless terminal. The UE can also be called asystem, device, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station,mobile, mobile device, remote station, remote terminal, access terminal,user terminal, terminal, communication device, user agent, or userdevice. The UE may be a cellular telephone, a satellite phone, acordless telephone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, awireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), ahandheld device having wireless connection capability, a computingdevice, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem.Moreover, various aspects are described herein in connection with a basestation. A base station may be utilized for communicating with wirelessterminal(s) and may also be referred to as an access point, a Node B,evolved Node B (eNB), H(e)NB, or some other terminology.

In order to provide a thorough understanding of the informationtransmission method and apparatus according to the embodiments of thedisclosure, first of all, the slot structures used in the 5G NR systemwill be introduced hereinafter. FIG. 2 illustrates several slotstructure examples in the 5G NR system. As an example, the slot may beclassified into uplink only slot, uplink-centric slot anddownlink-centric slot.

For an uplink only slot, all of the symbols in the uplink only slot areused for uplink (UL) transmission, and the PUCCH with long duration maybe transmitted in the middle part of the system bandwidth (shown in FIG.2) or the edges of the system bandwidth (not shown), or the like.

For an uplink-centric slot, symbols for both UL transmission anddownlink (DL) transmission are included in the uplink centric slot,where there are more uplink symbols, there is a guard period (GP)between DL/UL transmission to allow UE to switch from DL reception to ULtransmission, and the PUCCH with long duration may be transmitted themiddle part of the system bandwidth (shown in FIG. 2) or the edges ofthe system bandwidth (not shown), or the like.

For a downlink-centric slot, symbols for both UL transmission anddownlink (DL) transmission are included in the downlink-centric slot,where there are more downlink symbols, there is a guard period (GP)between DL/UL transmission to allow UE to switch from DL reception to ULtransmission. As the number of uplink symbols in the downlink-centricslot relatively small, the downlink-centric slot may not be suitable fortransmitting the PUCCH with long duration.

As DFT-S-OFDM will be used for PUCCH with long duration, and referencesignal (RS) and uplink control information (UCI) would be multiplexed inthe time division multiplex (TDM) manner, the demodulation referencesignal (DMRS, the same meaning as RS here, and may also be referred toas pilot signal) for PUCCH could occupy their own symbols. In order toachieve low latency, which is a key requirement for some services in the5G TR system, the inventor has found that RS design is an importantdesign aspect for PUCCH with long duration. In other words, locations ofDMRS needs to be re-designed from that in the LTE system.

To cope with this, the front-loaded DMRS principle is used for PUCCHwith long duration in the present invention.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, an informationtransmission method is provided. The method may be applied in a UE. Asshown in FIG. 3, the method may include the following steps.

In step 301, an RS symbol is placed at beginning of a PUCCH, UCI symbolsare placed after the RS symbol in the PUCCH.

In step 302, the PUCCH is transmitted. Specifically, the PUCCH istransmitted to a base station which in communication with the UE.

In one or more embodiments, step 301 may further includeplacement/locations of the rest RS symbols. In an embodiment, an RSsymbol is placed at the end of the PUCCH, which improves the accuracy ofdemodulation of the UCI at the network side. In an embodiment, one ormore RS symbols may be placed evenly in between the UCI symbols.Specifically, rest DMRS symbols are placed with one DMRS symbol forevery n UCI symbols (where n is an integer greater than or equal to 1),which will be later described in detail.

In practice, the locations for the RS symbols and for the DCI symbols inthe PUCCH may be pre-determined. That is, the actions for placement ofRS symbols and DCI symbols in step 301 described above in the variousembodiments may be combined as desired, and executed in any order orconcurrently.

FIG. 4A illustrates some examples of RS locations for PUCCH with longduration in one slot according to the disclosure. A couple of slotstructures are shown in the figure, which ranges from uplink-only slotto two uplink-centric slots with both DL/UL transmissions. Theprinciples of RS placement used in these examples include: 1) frontloaded DMRS at the beginning of the PUCCH; and 2) the rest DMRS symbolsare placed with one DMRS symbol for every n UCI symbols, where n is aninteger greater than or equal to 1.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4A, uplink only slots and uplink-centricslots are used for transmitting PUCCH with long duration. Here, each ofthe slots includes, seven symbols. However, it is to be noted that thisis just an example, and a slot may, of course, includes more or lessthan seven symbols.

For the uplink only slot shown in the top of FIG. 4, all the symbols inthe uplink only slot are uplink symbols and are dedicated fortransmitting the PUCCH; the RS symbols are placed in the first symbol,the fourth symbol (which is in the middle of the slot) and the lastsymbol of the slot. It can be noticed that such a RS placement allow twocontiguous UCI symbols in between two RS symbols, which facilitates theimplementation of STBC transmit diversity scheme which will be laterdescribed in detail.

Of course, when another diversity scheme different from the STBC isemployed, there is no need to keep two contiguous UCI symbols in betweentwo RS symbols. For example, there may be just one UCI symbol in betweentwo RS symbols.

For the uplink-centric slot shown in the middle of FIG. 4, there is onesymbol (the first symbol) for DL transmission, five symbols for ULtransmission, a guard period for switching from the DL transmission toUL transmission. The five symbols are dedicated for transmitting thePUCCH, where RS symbols are placed in the first and fourth symbols. Itcan be noticed that such a RS placement also allow two contiguous UCIsymbols in between two RS symbols; and meanwhile, there is an orphan DCIsymbol left (i.e., the last DCI symbol) in the PUCCH.

For the uplink-centric slot shown in the bottom of FIG. 4, there are twosymbols (the first and second symbols) for DL transmission, four symbolsfor UL transmission, a guard period for switching from the DLtransmission to UL transmission. The four symbols are dedicated fortransmitting the PUCCH, where RS symbols are placed in the first andfourth symbols, i.e., at the beginning and end of the PUCCHrespectively. It can be noticed that such a RS placement also allows twocontiguous UCI symbols in between two RS symbols.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of RS locations for PUCCH with longduration in multiple uplink only slots according to the disclosure. Inthis example, uplink-only slots are aggregated and assigned for PUCCH.It can be noticed that placement of DMRS provides quite evendistribution of RS within the aggregated slots for PUCCH and allow twocontiguous UCI symbols in between two DMRS symbols to facilitate theimplementation of STBC transmit diversity scheme. Another differencefrom the examples in FIG. 4A lies in that, two contiguous RS symbols(located in the fourth and fifth symbols) are placed immediately afterevery two contiguous UCI symbols, in each of the slots of the first orsecond type, until a last symbol in the slot is filled by an RS or UCIsymbol.

It is to noted that the placement of two contiguous RS symbols as shownin FIG. 4B can be applied in the scenario of FIG. 4A, in which no slotaggregation is used.

Another design aspect for the PUCCH with long duration accounts forimproved coverage and robustness performance for the PUCCH. Unlike datachannel, control channel does not have re-transmission mechanism tocorrect/improve its first transmission. For the 5G NR system, due to theintroduction of higher frequency, the larger path loss could deterioratethe cell coverage. For downlink, the use of beamforming (BF) couldcompensate some of such path losses and improve the cell coverage.However, BF in uplink may not be as effective as in downlink, therefore,cell coverage could be an issue. To solve this, Discrete FourierTransform-Spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) waveform is adopted in uplink forPUCCH with long duration which leads to lower PAPR and thus smallerpower back-off and larger coverage. To further improve that, transmitdiversity is considered in the present invention.

For transmit diversity, a couple of schemes could be considered, whichinclude Alamouti based transmit diversity, cyclic delay diversity (CDD),Space orthogonal-resource transmit diversity (SORTD). There are pros andcons for each of the schemes, as shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Comparing among different transmit diversity schemes for PUCCHTransmit diversity schemes Pros Cons STBC Good diversity performanceNeed pair of symbols in as the STBC code is time orthogonal, does notneed more sequence resource CDD easy to implement, no Relative weakerdiversity requirement on pair of as compared with other symbols schemesSORTD Good diversity performance Double the sequence as orthogonalsequences are resources. used. No requirement on pair of symbols

As DFT-S-OFDM is adopted as PUCCH with long duration, orthogonalsequences like Zadoff-Chu set of sequences could be used as themodulation sequences for UCI and RS. Such sequences are mapped alongfrequency and multiple sequences could be used to modulated UCIs fromthe same/different UEs before being multiplexed on the same symbol. Aseach sequence is formed by a set of complex values which cannot bere-arranged, SFBC could not be used as the transmit diversity here.

In view of this, STBC is proposed in the present invention to be used astransmit diversity for PUCCH with long duration.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, an informationtransmission method is provided. The method may be applied in a UE. Asshown in FIG. 5, the method may include the following steps.

In step 501, RS symbols and UCI symbols are placed in the PUCCH.

In step 502, Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) is performed on at least aportion of the UCI symbols in the PUCCH to build STBC codes.

In step 503, the PUCCH is transmitted. Specifically, the PUCCH istransmitted to a base station which in communication with the UE.

For step 501, the specific placement of RS symbols and UCI symbols mayrefer to the embodiments described in connection with FIG. 3 and theexamples described in connection with FIGS. 4A and 4B, and thus will benot elaborated here.

Regarding the STBC, specifically, in an example, the UCI may bemodulated using a modulation scheme such as Binary Phase Shift Keying(BPSK) or Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), and then an orthogonalsequence is generated for each of modulated symbols carrying UCI in thePUCCH, where the UCI symbols comprise m UCI symbols in time, where m isan integer, and greater than or equal to 2. After the orthogonalsequences are generated, STBC is performed, as described in thefollowing.

FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic view of building STBC codes as transmitdiversity for PUCCH with long duration according to the disclosure.Taking the (2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols a and b for example,where k is a positive integer and smaller than or equal to m/2, thegenerated orthogonal sequences are a_(i) and b_(i) respectively, wherei=0, 1, . . . , n, the elements of the orthogonal sequences a_(i) andb_(i) are directly used to build a first set of pairs of STBC codes, forexample, the first pair is (a₀, b₀), the second pair is (a₁, b₁), . . .and the n^(th) pair is (a_(n), b_(n)). Additionally, conjugationtransformation is performed on the elements of the generated orthogonalsequences a_(i) and b_(i) to build a second set of pairs of STBC codes,for example, the first pair is (−b₀*, a₀*), the second pair is (−b₁*,a₁*), . . . and the n^(th) pair is (−b_(n)*, a_(n)*).

As shown in FIG. 6, before transmitting the PUCCH, inverse Fast FourierTransform (IFFT) is performed on the first and second set of pairs ofSTBC codes, together with the orthogonal sequences corresponding to theRS symbols, to transform them into the time domain. The IFFT is known toone of ordinary skill in the art, and will not be elaborated here. Then,the PUCCH with the first set of pairs of STBC codes is transmitted via afirst antenna Ant 1 and the PUCCH with the second set of pairs of STBCcodes is transmitted via a second antenna Ant 2.

In the case that STBC is used as transmit diversity for PUCCH with longduration, the UCI transmitted on PUCCH could be spread/repeated andtransmitted on same/different symbols within the time-frequencyresources assigned for PUCCH. a As the STBC codes are orthogonal, gooddiversity performance can be implemented and thus the coverage androbustness performance of PUCCH with long duration is improved; andadditionally, no more sequence resources are need.

As pair of symbols in time are needed to build STBC codes, in someembodiments, orphan symbol (for example, when m is an odd number) may beleft in the time domain. In this case, other transmit diversity schemessuch as CDD or SORTD could be used for the orphan symbol.

In order to increase frequency diversity gain, the present inventionfurther proposes frequency hopping as a yet another design aspect ofPUCCH with long duration.

According to some embodiments of the disclosure, an informationtransmission method is provided. The method may be applied in a UE. Asshown in FIG. 7, the method may include the following steps.

In step 701, RS symbols and UCI symbols are placed in the PUCCH.

In step 702, the PUCCH is divided into at least two portions in time.

In step 703, the PUCCH is transmitted in such a way that each portion istransmitted in a respective frequency band.

In an embodiment, for step 701, the specific placement of RS symbols andUCI symbols may refer to the embodiments described in connection withFIG. 3 and the examples described in connection with FIG. 4A and FIG.4B, and thus will be not elaborated here.

Of course, transmit diversity may be combined with frequency hopping toachieve optimum performance. For example, step 502 may be executedbefore step 702. Such a combination can be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art, and will not be elaborated here.

For frequency hopping, intra-slot and inter-slot hopping of PUCCH withlong duration could be used. In terms of intra-slot hopping, the portion(symbols) that hops to another part of frequency may need to have RSsymbol to start with. FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B illustrate two examples ofintra-slot hopping for PUCCH with long duration in an uplink-only slotaccording to the disclosure, which use the same RS designs as shown inFIG. 4A and FIG. 4B in the above. In general, it would be good toconsider such operations when designing DMRS symbols and avoid to havetwo sets of DMRS design, one for non-hopping and one for hopping. FIG.8C illustrates an intra-slot hopping for PUCCH with long duration in anuplink-centric slot according to the disclosure. Since theuplink-centric slot have more uplink symbols available for PUCCHrelative to the uplink-centric slots, it may be more worth applyingintra-slot frequency hopping for the uplink-centric slot.

In this embodiment, frequency hopping, particularly the intra-slothopping, is used for PUCCH with long duration, the UCI in the PUCCHcould be transmitted in different frequency bands, and thus thefrequency diversity gain is improved.

Based on the several information transmission method embodimentsdescribed above, an information transmission apparatus is providedaccording to some embodiments of the disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 9, the information transmission apparatus 900 includesa placement module 901, and a transmission module 902. In practice, theplacement module 901 may be realized by a software module stored in amemory and executable by a processor, or may be hardware circuits, ormay be a combination thereof. Therefore, the placement module 901 may bereferred to as a placement circuit in some cases. The transmissionmodule 902 may be realized by a transmitter circuit including multipleantennas.

The placement module 901 may be configured to place a first RS symbol atbeginning of a PUCCH, and place UCI symbols after the first RS symbol inthe PUCCH.

The transmission module 902 may be configured to transmit the PUCCH.

In an embodiment, the transmitter may be configured to perform one ofthe following: transmit the PUCCH in one or more slots of a first type,wherein all symbols in each of the slots of the first type are uplink,which are dedicated for transmitting the PUCCH; transmit the PUCCH inone or more slots of a second type, wherein more than one half ofsymbols in each of the slots of the second type are uplink, which arededicated for transmitting the PUCCH; and transmit the PUCCH in multipleslots comprising one or more slots of the first type and one or moreslots of the second type, and the placement module may be configured toplace the first RS symbol at the beginning of the PUCCH, in each of theslots of the first or second type.

In an embodiment, the placement module 901 may further be configured toperform at least one of the following: place a second RS symbol at endof the PUCCH, in each of the slots of the first or second type; andplace one or more third RS symbols evenly in between the UCI symbols, inthe PUCCH in each of the slots of the first or second type.

In an embodiment, the placement module 901 may further be configured toplace one or two RS symbols immediately after every n contiguous UCIsymbols, in each of the slots of the first or second type, until a lastsymbol in the slot is filled by an RS or UCI symbol, where n is aninteger greater than or equal to 1.

In an embodiment, the apparatus 900 may further include a transmitdiversity module 903, configured to perform Space-Time Block Coding(STBC) on at least a portion of the UCI symbols in the PUCCH to buildSTBC codes. In practice, transmit diversity module 903 may be realizedby a software module stored in a memory and executable by a processor,or may be hardware circuits, or may be a combination thereof. Therefore,the transmit diversity module 903 may be referred to as a transmitdiversity circuit or a transmit diversity coder in some cases.

In an embodiment, the apparatus 900 may further include a sequencegeneration module 904. In practice, the sequence generation module 904may be realized by a software module stored in a memory and executableby a processor, or may be hardware circuits, or may be a combinationthereof. Therefore, the sequence generation module 904 may be referredto as a sequence generation circuit or a sequence generator in somecases. The sequence generation module 904 may be configured to for eachof modulated symbols carrying UCI in the PUCCH, where the UCI symbolscomprise m UCI symbols in time, where m is an integer, and greater thanor equal to 2. In this embodiment, the transmit diversity module 903 isconfigured to: for (2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols in time, wherek is a positive integer and smaller than or equal to m/2, directly useelements of the orthogonal sequences corresponding to the (2k−1)^(th)and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols to build a first set of pairs of STBC codes,and perform conjugation transformation on the elements of the generatedorthogonal sequences corresponding to the (2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCIsymbols to build a second set of pairs of STBC codes. in thetransmission module 902 may be configured to: transmit the PUCCH withthe first set of pairs of STBC codes via a first antenna; and transmitthe PUCCH with the second set of pairs of STBC codes via a secondantenna.

In an embodiment, when m is an odd number, before the PUCCH istransmitted, the transmit diversity module 903 may further configured toperform Cyclic Delay Diversity (CDD) or Space Orthogonal-ResourceTransmit Diversity (SORTD) on a last DCI symbol in time among the m DCIsymbols to build CDD or SORTD codes for the last DCI symbol.

In an embodiment, the transmission module 902 may further be configuredto divide the PUCCH transmitted in a single one of the first or secondslots into a first portion and a second portion; transmit the firstportion of the PUCCH in a first frequency band; and transmit the secondportion of the PUCCH in a second frequency band. The PUCCH may bedivided such that the second portion of the PUCCH begins with an RSsymbol.

FIG. 10 is a simplified structural diagram of a UE according to anembodiment of the disclosure. The UE 1000 may include a processor 1001,a memory 1002, a transmitter 1003 having multiple antennas and otherparts (e.g., a touch screen, not shown). The memory 1002 stores programinstructions, which when executed by the processor 1001, cause theprocessor 1001 to perform at least one of the method described inconnection with FIGS. 1, 5 and 7. The apparatus as shown in FIG. 9 maybe implemented in the UE 1000.

The benefits of the apparatus described here correspond to thosedescribed for the information transmission methods, and thus are omittedhere.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or a part of the stepsin the above embodiments can be implemented by computer programs. Thecomputer programs can be stored in a computer readable storage mediumand executed on a corresponding hardware platform (e.g., system,equipment, apparatus, device and the like) to perform one or acombination of the steps in the method embodiments.

Optionally, all or a part of the steps in the above embodiments can beimplemented using Integrated Circuits (ICs). These steps can beimplemented by one or more IC modules. As such, the present invention isnot limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry andsoftware.

Respective devices or functional modules or functional units in theabove embodiments can be implemented using general computing devices,which can be located in a single computing apparatus or distributed on anetwork including multiple computing devices.

When respective devices or functional modules or functional units in theabove embodiments are implemented in the form of software functionalmodules and then sold or used as an independent product, they can bestored in a computer readable storage medium. The aforementionedcomputer readable storage medium can be magnetic disks and/or opticaldisks, such as Read Only Memories (ROMs), and the like.

According to the disclosure, front-loaded RS is used in RS design forPUCCH with long duration, which achieves low latency of services in the5G TR system. Rest RS symbols may be placed with one DMRS symbol forevery n UCI symbols, where n is an integer greater than or equal to 1.Frequency hopping may also be used for PUCCH with long duration, thusobtaining more frequency diversity gain. When STBC is used as transmitdiversity of PUCCH with long duration, it would bring superior transmitdiversity gain, does not require additional sequence resources, andimprove coverage and robustness performances.

The above description are merely preferable embodiments of thedisclosure and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of thedisclosure, and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious substitutions, modifications and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, thescope of protection of the disclosure should be interpreted solely inlight of the claims.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the disclosure, front-loaded RS is used in RS design forPUCCH with long duration, which achieves low latency of services in the5G TR system. When STBC is used as transmit diversity of PUCCH with longduration, it would bring superior transmit diversity gain, does notrequire additional sequence resources, and improve coverage androbustness performances. Rest RS symbols may be placed with one DMRSsymbol for every n UCI symbols. Frequency hopping may also be used forPUCCH with long duration, thus obtaining more frequency diversity gain.

1. An information transmission method, comprising: transmitting aPhysical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), wherein a first ReferenceSignal (RS) symbol is located at beginning of the PUCCH and UplinkControl Information (UCI) symbols are located after the first RS symbolin the PUCCH.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein thetransmitting the PUCCH comprises one of the following: transmitting thePUCCH in one or more slots of a first type, wherein all symbols in eachof the slots of the first type are uplink, which are dedicated fortransmitting the PUCCH; transmitting the PUCCH in one or more slots of asecond type, wherein more than one half of symbols in each of the slotsof the second type are uplink, which are dedicated for transmitting thePUCCH; and transmitting the PUCCH in multiple slots comprising one ormore slots of the first type and one or more slots of the second type,and wherein the first RS symbol is located at the beginning of thePUCCH, in each of the slots of the first or second type.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 2, wherein the PUCCH comprises at least one of thefollowing: a second RS symbol at end of the PUCCH, in each of the slotsof the first or second type; and one or more third RS symbols evenly inbetween the UCI symbols, in the PUCCH in each of the slots of the firstor second type.
 4. The method according to claim 2, the PUCCH comprises:one or two RS symbols immediately after every n contiguous UCI symbols,in each of the slots of the first or second type, until a last symbol inthe slot is filled by an RS or UCI symbol, wherein n is an integergreater than or equal to
 1. 5. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising: before transmitting the PUCCH, performing Space-Time BlockCoding (STBC) on at least a portion of the UCI symbols in the PUCCH tobuild STBC codes.
 6. The method according to claim 5, furthercomprising: generating an orthogonal sequence for each of modulatedsymbols carrying UCI in the PUCCH, wherein the UCI symbols comprise mUCI symbols in time, where m is an integer, and greater than or equal to2, wherein the performing STBC on at least a portion of UCI symbolscomprises: for (2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols in time, directlyusing the elements of the orthogonal sequences corresponding to the(2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols to build a first set of pairs ofSTBC codes, and performing conjugation transformation on the elements ofthe generated orthogonal sequences corresponding to the (2k−1)^(th) and(2k)^(th) UCI symbols to build a second set of pairs of STBC codes;wherein the transmitting the PUCCH comprises: transmitting the PUCCHwith the first set of pairs of STBC codes via a first antenna; andtransmitting the PUCCH with the second set of pairs of STBC codes via asecond antenna, where k is a positive integer and smaller than or equalto m/2.
 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the transmitting thePUCCH further comprises: transmitting a first portion of the PUCCH in afirst frequency band; and transmitting a second portion of the PUCCH ina second frequency band.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein thesecond portion of the PUCCH begins with an RS symbol.
 9. The methodaccording to claim 8, wherein the PUCCH transmitted in a single one ofthe first or second slots is divided into the first portion and thesecond portion.
 10. An information transmission apparatus, comprising aprocessor, a memory, and a transmitter, the memory having instructionsstored therein, which when executed by the processor, causes theprocessor to: control the transmitter to transmit a PUCCH; wherein afirst Reference Signal (RS) symbol is located at beginning of the PUCCHand Uplink Control Information (UCI) symbols are located after the firstRS symbol in the PUCCH.
 11. The apparatus according to claim 10, whereinthe transmitter is configured to perform one of the following: transmitthe PUCCH in one or more slots of a first type, wherein all symbols ineach of the slots of the first type are uplink, which are dedicated fortransmitting the PUCCH; transmit the PUCCH in one or more slots of asecond type, wherein more than one half of symbols in each of the slotsof the second type are uplink, which are dedicated for transmitting thePUCCH; and transmit the PUCCH in multiple slots comprising one or moreslots of the first type and one or more slots of the second type, andwherein the first RS symbol is located at the beginning of the PUCCH, ineach of the slots of the first or second type.
 12. The apparatusaccording to claim 11, wherein one or two RS symbols are locatedimmediately after every n contiguous UCI symbols, in each of the slotsof the first or second type, until a last symbol in the slot is filledby an RS or UCI symbol, wherein n is an integer greater than or equalto
 1. 13. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor isfurther configured to: perform Space-Time Block Coding (STBC) on atleast a portion of the UCI symbols in the PUCCH to build STBC codes. 14.The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to: generate an orthogonal sequence for each of modulatedsymbols carrying UCI in the PUCCH, wherein the UCI symbols comprise mUCI symbols in time, where m is an integer, and greater than or equal to2; and for (2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols in time, directly useelements of the orthogonal sequences corresponding to the (2k−1)^(th)and (2k)^(th) UCI symbols to build a first set of pairs of STBC codes,and perform conjugation transformation on the elements of the generatedorthogonal sequences corresponding to the (2k−1)^(th) and (2k)^(th) UCIsymbols to build a second set of pairs of STBC codes; wherein thetransmitter is configured to: transmit the PUCCH with the first set ofpairs of STBC codes via a first antenna; and transmit the PUCCH with thesecond set of pairs of STBC codes via a second antenna, where k is apositive integer and smaller than or equal to m/2.
 15. The apparatusaccording to claim 14, wherein when m is an odd number, before the PUCCHis transmitted, the processor is further configured to: perform CyclicDelay Diversity (CDD) or Space Orthogonal-Resource Transmit Diversity(SORTD) on a last DCI symbol in time among the m DCI symbols to buildCDD or SORTD codes for the last DCI symbol.
 16. The apparatus accordingto claim 10, wherein the transmitter is further configured to: transmita first portion of the PUCCH in a first frequency band; and transmit asecond portion of the PUCCH in a second frequency band.
 17. Theapparatus according to claim 16, wherein the second portion of the PUCCHbegins with an RS symbol.
 18. A non-transitory computer readable storageradium, having instructions stored therein, which when executed by aprocessor, causes the processor to: control a transmitter to transmit aPUCCH, wherein a first Reference Signal (RS) symbol is located atbeginning of the PUCCH and Uplink Control Information (UCI) symbols arelocated after the first RS symbol in the PUCCH.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer readable storage radium according to claim 18, wherein theprocessor is caused to perform one of the following: control thetransmitter to transmit the PUCCH in one or more slots of a first type,wherein all symbols in each of the slots of the first type are uplink,which are dedicated for transmitting the PUCCH; control the transmitterto transmit the PUCCH in one or more slots of a second type, whereinmore than one half of symbols in each of the slots of the second typeare uplink, which are dedicated for transmitting the PUCCH; and controlthe transmitter to transmit the PUCCH in multiple slots comprising oneor more slots of the first type and one or more slots of the secondtype, and wherein the first RS symbol is located at the beginning of thePUCCH, in each of the slots of the first or second type.